---
layout: default
title: "Right to Privacy: Aadhaar Will Clear SC Bar, Says Nandan Nilekani"
description: "A Business Standard report by Alnoor Peermohamed on reactions to the Supreme Court's Right to Privacy judgment, with Sunil Abraham quoted on legitimate state use of Aadhaar and the limits of judicial remedies for technical security flaws."
categories: [Media mentions]
date: 2017-08-26
authors: ["Alnoor Peermohamed"]
source: "Business Standard"
permalink: /media/aadhaar-right-to-privacy-sc-nilekani-business-standard/
created: 2026-04-02
---

**Right to Privacy: Aadhaar Will Clear SC Bar, Says Nandan Nilekani** is a *Business Standard* report published on 26 August 2017, written by Alnoor Peermohamed. The article covers reactions to the Supreme Court's landmark nine-judge bench ruling on 24 August 2017 that upheld the Right to Privacy as a Fundamental Right. [Sunil Abraham](/sunil/), then executive director of the Centre for Internet and Society, is quoted acknowledging legitimate grounds for state use of Aadhaar while arguing that the technical security weaknesses of the system fall outside the reach of any court and require the UIDAI to proactively engage with security experts.

## Contents

1. [Article Details](#article-details)
2. [Full Text](#full-text)
3. [Context and Background](#context-and-background)
4. [External Link](#external-link)

## Article Details

<dl class="media-details">
  <dt>📰 Published in:</dt>
  <dd><em>Business Standard</em></dd>

  <dt>📅 Date:</dt>
  <dd>26 August 2017</dd>

  <dt>👤 Author:</dt>
  <dd>Alnoor Peermohamed</dd>

  <dt>📄 Type:</dt>
  <dd>News Report</dd>

  <dt>📰 Newspaper Link:</dt>
  <dd>
    <a class="btn" href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/aadhaar-will-come-out-with-flying-colours-nandan-nilekani-117082500377_1.html">
      Read Online
    </a> (Subscription needed)
  </dd>
</dl>

## Full Text

<div class="highlighted-text" id="fulltext">

<p>Nandan Nilekani, former chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), is confident that the Supreme Court bench looking into privacy concerns surrounding Aadhaar will give the programme the green light, since it follows all the design principles laid down by the bench.</p>

<p>His comments come a day after a nine-judge bench ruled unanimously in favour of the Right to Privacy as a Fundamental Right, which several experts have said could affect the Union Government's mandate to make Aadhaar compulsory for paying taxes, receiving government aid and even buying a new mobile connection.</p>

<p>"It's a superb decision. While it has upheld privacy as a fundamental right it also acknowledges that in the interest of larger societal reasons you may have some constraints on them… I am very confident that Aadhaar will come out with flying colours," said Nilekani, in a call with analysts on Friday.</p>

<p>While the landmark judgement which upheld the Right to Privacy as a Fundamental Right of every individual, it also acknowledged that it's not an absolute right. Experts say the judgement lays the foundation for much stronger data protection laws, but citizens might have to forgo some of their rights in the name of things such as security or for greater public good.</p>

<p>Nilekani said that the Supreme Court ruling on Thursday has already decided on a set of considerations that will help the case that is being fought against Aadhaar in the court. He added that his confidence stemmed from the fact that Aadhaar followed "all the design principles laid by the supreme court".</p>

<p>"When it comes to the state identifying citizens, there are a lot of legitimate reasons why the state might want to do so. For example, to make sure Indians pay income tax — only 1 per cent of India pays income tax and that's terrible. So to raise tax collection, Aadhaar might be a legitimate way to catch those who are not paying taxes," said Sunil Abraham, Executive Director at the Centre of Internet and Society.</p>

<p>While Thursday's landmark judgement might not have any adverse impact on the way India uses Aadhaar, Abraham points out that the technical weak points that the system has will anyway never be addressed by any court. Instead, he says the UIDAI should proactively take suggestions from security experts to build a system that protects sensitive data of its users from hackers.</p>

</div>

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## Context and Background

The article was published on 26 August 2017, two days after the Supreme Court's nine-judge constitutional bench delivered its unanimous judgment in *Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India*, holding that the Right to Privacy is a Fundamental Right under the Indian Constitution. The ruling was widely seen as a direct challenge to the government's position that Aadhaar did not require a privacy framework because no such right existed.

Sunil Abraham's position in the article is notably measured. He does not dispute that the state has legitimate grounds to identify citizens for purposes such as tax collection, but separates that question from the technical security question entirely. His point that courts cannot fix Aadhaar's structural security vulnerabilities was consistent with what CIS researchers had documented in May 2017, when they reported the leak of approximately 135 million Aadhaar numbers from government databases.

The *Puttaswamy* judgment on privacy was a preliminary ruling. The larger five-judge bench hearing on the constitutional validity of Aadhaar itself was decided separately in *Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India* in September 2018, where the Supreme Court upheld Aadhaar with significant caveats.

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## External Link

- [Read on Business Standard](https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/aadhaar-will-come-out-with-flying-colours-nandan-nilekani-117082500377_1.html) (Subscription needed)

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